Chapter 95

Just as he had anticipated, the survivor spotted him as soon as he emerged from his hiding spot in the dark corner. The human spun around toward him, his eyes widening in surprise upon seeing Jake. For a fraction of a second, they just stared at each other, and then Jake lurched toward his prey, morphing his hands into claws.

The human brought up his shotgun, but before he could take aim, Jake struck out. The survivor managed to jerk back and instead of piercing his throat, Jake’s claws ripped through the fabric of the survivor’s jacket and his flesh beneath. The human screamed in pain. Jake cursed mentally. The mana depletion severely hindered his movement speed and agility. He’d hoped to end this fight with one quick slash, but no dice.

The survivor clumsily stumbled back, tripping over the body of a mutant he’d killed earlier and collapsing to his back. Jake was about to pounce down on his prey to finish the job, but before he could do that, the survivor quickly pointed his shotgun at the approaching threat, fueled by the surge of adrenaline and the desire to save his life.

The human squeezed the trigger, ramming a load of buckshot into Jake’s chest, blowing a huge chunk of flesh out of his body. The force of the impact sent him flying a few feet backward. After collapsing to the floor, he quickly checked the remaining HP: only 19% left. Mana was quickly escaping his body through a fresh hole in his chest. It was bad. It was really bad. This fight was far from going according to plan.

He still had some strength left in him, but he resisted the urge to immediately jump back to his feet. In his compromised state, he wouldn’t achieve anything by trying to rush at his enemy. Instead of attacking the survivor head-on, he needed to outsmart him. He wanted to make the human believe he had won, lulling him into a false sense of security. Once the survivor let his guard down, that would be the moment to strike.

With deliberate slowness, Jake rose on his elbows and sat up. He then got to his knees and remained standing in that pose, pretending to lack the strength to stand up. His ruse worked. While the survivor kept pointing his shotgun at him, his eyes betrayed his thoughts. After the transformation, Jake’s newfound skills made him adept at reading humans. Locking eyes with the survivor, he could discern the thoughts running through his mind. The survivor accepted Jake’s pretense at face value, mistakenly believing the frightening mutant was done for.

But he was wrong. Despite being severely wounded and losing mana at alarming speed, Jake wasn’t done for. Not by a long shot. He was simply biding his time for the perfect moment to launch his counterattack.

Still clutching his shotgun with one hand, the human retrieved his PDA with the other and scanned Jake with the device. As he perused the information on the screen, his facial expression registered genuine surprise. Jake had a good sense of what must have been going through the human’s mind. Upon the survivor’s entrance into the building, Jake had accessed his stats and discovered the human’s level to be 17, while his own level was 12. The survivor found it hard to believe that a being five levels below him could be so strong and fast.

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Even though Jake had taken a look at the human’s stats, he hadn’t bothered to check the survivor’s name. To him, the human was merely prey to be hunted down, an obstacle he had to overcome.

The survivor put away his PDA and stood up, keeping his shotgun trained on Jake who remained kneeling. He took a step toward him, then another one, but then suddenly stopped. The harsh realities of this world had taught the survivor to exercise caution at every turn. By that point, the room had grown very dark, and the survivor squinted at Jake, struggling to discern many details in the semi-darkness due to his inferior human vision. Though he’d never encountered a being like Jake before, the survivor resisted the temptation to get closer to the menacing figure for a better look.

Unbeknown to the human, he’d unwittingly stopped at the perfect distance for Jake to strike. If Jake were to suddenly jump to his feet, he wouldn’t be able to get to the survivor before he shot him dead. That was what the human must’ve been thinking, and he was absolutely right about that. However, Jake had an ability that allowed him to swiftly strike out at the human, easily covering the distance between them without even having to stand up.

For the next several seconds, the human scrutinized Jake, examining his obsidian-black, textured body and taking stock of the numerous wounds on his strange body, from which mana oozed out. Jake waited a few moments more before mentally instructing a tentacle to sprout from his back.

Since he hadn’t acquired any upgrades for the ability yet, the process of forming a tentacle was rather slow, taking a couple of seconds. Jake controlled the growing tentacle behind him, making sure to keep it concealed from the survivor’s line of sight. Even when the tentacle finally grew to full length, the human was none the wiser. With the room shrouded in darkness and Jake coiling the tentacle behind his back, making it quite compact, it was impossible for the human to see it from where he stood.

The survivor kept studying the mutant kneeling before him, oblivious to the imminent danger. Jake was aware that his tentacle could only last a few seconds, so he couldn’t wait for a better opportunity to attack.

Both Jake and the human came to the decision to strike almost simultaneously. Just as the survivor adjusted his aim, Jake lashed out with his tentacle, launching it from behind his back toward the survivor with lightning-fast speed. The human was completely taken aback by this unexpected turn of events. He should’ve shot at Jake’s head to finish him off, as he had originally intended, but fear and confusion clouded his judgment, preventing him from thinking clearly.

Unable to keep a cool head, he swung his weapon up, attempting to aim at the rapidly approaching tentacle. He took a hurried shot, the shotgun booming and recoiling in his hands. Sure enough, he missed the fast-moving target. Before he could work the action of his gun, the tentacle reached him. The double-edged blade at the end of the tentacle slashed across his throat, cutting through muscle and cartilage with ease.

The human’s eyes widened in shock as his hands released the shotgun, causing it to fall to the floor. He wrapped his fingers around the nasty gush in his throat, trying to stanch the bleeding, but the blood continued to seep between his fingers. It was a fatal wound, and the survivor was well aware of that. He tried to speak, but only a gurgle emerged from his throat. He staggered back, lost his balance, and crumpled to the ground, his fingers still wrapped around his bleeding throat.

After the attack, the tentacle detached and fell to the floor, quickly withering and disintegrating into a pile of dust. Jake rose to his feet and began walking toward the incapacitated survivor.